BagOfNothing.com

• Hiccups
  • I’m on my third day of having almost continuous hiccups. I’d say I hiccup anywhere from one to six times a minute, and if I’m lucky, they may stop for about a half hour, but then they start back up again.
  • You name the household cure for hiccups and I’ll tell you I’ve tried each one at least three times.
  • Yes, I’m familiar with the hiccup girl that’s now in prison for murder.
  • I do find some humor with this and the possibility that God is smiting me regarding my thoughts yesterday, but my diaphragm hurts like hell. Also, it’s caused a loss of appetite and a few cases of vomiting. And even with Ambien, I’m not getting much sleep. One of the worst parts is that after some hiccups, I smell and taste gastric stuff.
  • My discomfort and pain were so bad yesterday I left work early and saw the doctor, coming close to just going to the ER. Too much time researching things on Google will cause some paranoia. A breathing treatment helped, but about an hour after I left the doctor’s office it started back again.
• I was at our local grocery store standing behind a woman in the “ten items or less” line and she had something close to thirty items. I was perturbed because I only was purchasing two items. But I became further perturbed when she said she needed to break up the transaction four different ways. I became further perturbed when she wrote two checks for two of those items.
• Passover/bumper sticker thoughts from yesterday
  • Thanks to all of you who took the time to leave your thoughts and comments yesterday. I appreciate the civil tone and giving me the opportunity to see it from a broader perspective.
  • I saw some responses to my thoughts and questions on another more colorful blog which reminded me why I’m often turned off by the church. Many were quick to defend and criticize my biblical literacy and line of questioning and thinking, which I believe is a major fault of the Christian church. Most would first fight and defend rather than welcome the opportunity to provide insight for someone who is seeking to understand. Quick to fight and slow to offer grace. It feeds the perception people aren’t allowed to be sincere with thoughts or questions because they’ll be judged.
  • Someone on that blog commented that I look like a pro wrestler. That may be the highest compliment I ever had regarding my appearance.
• Letterman’s mother obituary written by her three children.
• H-E-B becomes largest privately-held employer in Texas
• Condom-clogged pipe leads police to Austin prostitution ring
• Ohio prisoners built two PCs from parts, hid them in ceiling, connected to the state’s network and did cybershenanigans
• The Second Most Popular Language In Every Country
• I haven’t watched SportsCenter in years but thought I’d see how they would cover the Romo/Mavs story. I thought their bit was actually pretty funny splicing in clips from other things. The video should be cued to start at the fun stuff and you just need to watch 50-seconds of it.

https://youtu.be/15E5k9pQ0lY?t=1m12s

• WifeGeeding showed me a Facebook advertisement in her timeline about a local boot camp. Front and center in the picture was a church friend who died of a heart attack about three years ago. She joined the boot camp in an effort to get healthier and made a lot of progress, but the autopsy revealed she had an enlarged heart which. Her family and the church then stressed that anyone starting a workout program who hasn’t worked out in a while should first consult a doctor, something many folks simply overlook.
• Last night’s ‘Diff’rent Strokes’ was the one in which Sam had a bed wetting problem.
• I don’t care what anyone says about it, but I really enjoyed seeing Romo be a part of the Mavericks yesterday and love how the sports community can have a little fun with it all. I also love how Rick Carlisle has softened over the years. He’s attended a fans funeral, plays table tennis with one of the TICKET guys, and goes along with this harmless end of season bit.
• I loved her coverage of the Winter Olympics and when Dave had to guess what pie she made for Thanksgiving – Dorothy Mengering, David Letterman’s Mom and ‘Late Show’ Personality, Dies at 95
• I thought I said something out of place and facturally wrong yesterday in front of a lot of folks and frustrated myself, but then I saw Sean Spicer had bit more of a rougher day than I did and now I don’t feel so bad.
• Pope Francis opens free laundromat for homeless
• @darrenrovell – The Mariners sold 310 orders (4 oz cup for $4) of toasted grasshoppers at yesterday’s home opener
• I wonder what month are chicken egg sales are the highest? I looked for about two minutes and couldn’t find anything. Would it be around Easter because of Easter eggs or would it be during a month in which a lot of baking is done?
• I’m setting myself up to get slaughtered and display biblical and theological ignorance, but this is an attempt to be sincere and open about something I’m confused about. For some people, this is a none issue, but it lingered with me for a while and I’m sure I’m not going to be able to adequately express myself, but here it goes:
  • I dropped the kids off at school and Passover was mentioned on the radio. As you will recall from the Exodus story, the Israelites, slaves of Egypt, were instructed to mark the doorposts of their homes with the blood of a slaughtered lamb and, upon seeing this, the spirit of the Lord knew to pass over the first-born males in these homes. If there was no blood on the door, the oldest male child would die. That night the oldest male child of each Egyptian family died, Even the king’s oldest son died.
  • The moment I heard Passover on the radio, I was at a stoplight behind a minivan with a bumper sticker which stated “God Is Pro-Life” with an image of a baby next to the slogan.
  • I know the Bible is used to further political arguments of all political parties, but for the first time, I felt I could no longer totally agree with that slogan. Please know this isn’t a way to justify abortion, it’s an attempt to understand how God views life. I’ve been taught that God does not change, there is no Old Testament God and a separate New Testament God, there is no Old Covenant versus New Covenant God, there is no God of Moses versus God of Jesus.
  • But as I thought about that bumper sticker and the story of how God killed innocent babies and children whose only fault was being born of Egyptian parents, I was saddened. Those children had nothing to do with the slavery and atrocities committed by the Egyptian rulers. There are arguments that Christians are obliged to praise and worship God, regardless of whether or not we understand his actions, and that, as God he is free to act in any way he chooses. But I’m hard-headed, I guess, and that just doesn’t settle with me. Either do the arguments that the firstborn bore the sins of their parents, God is a jealous but loving god, Pharoh was warned with the previous nine plagues, it was the only way for the Israelites to become free, it was a just punishment or a way to be in awe of the power of God, or it’s some act of grace showcased upon his people. It’s hard for me to understand how a loving God kills innocent children and it can be justified, even in his context.
  • I know it was just a bumper sticker pushing a political agenda, but God isn’t as pro-life as many would like to believe. Remember what happened after the walls of Jericho fell?
    • They devoted the city to the Lord and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it—men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys.
  • As I stated, some will argue there is an Old Testament God and a New Testament God, but I was taught there is only one God and he does not change. I understand how the work of Christ and the gift of the Spirit greatly changed how we relate to God. But he’s the one and the same God who gave us a clearer and deeper revelation of God, not a different one. The God Jesus spoke with and spoke for, is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It’s all a terribly complicated manner, and I think it shouldn’t be.
  • I know I’m not the first to think of this, nor will I be the last, and it’s been answered a variety of ways. Hopefully, it means something to seek to understand than accept things with blind faith. And with all that, I open myself to slaughter and judgment.
• Another step towards idiocracy – Buzzfeed – There’s Now A TV Show Where People Get Revenge Tattoos For Each Other And It Is Literally Hell
• Even the Bank of Canada can’t resist the Konami code
• Old computer programmers being called out of retirement – Banks scramble to fix old systems as IT ‘cowboys’ ride into sunset
  • Although few universities still offer COBOL courses, the language remains crucial to businesses and institutions around the world. And here lies the problem: if something goes wrong, few people know how to fix it.The industry’s aggressive push into digital banking makes it even more important to solve the COBOL dilemma. Mobile apps and other new tools are written in modern languages that need to work seamlessly with old underlying systems.